MS in Electrical Engineering

Go further in your career with a master's in electrical engineering. Graduate with the knowledge, skills and personal network you'll need to succeed.

The MS in Electrical Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering is an advanced engineering degree that prepares you for further academic study or a career in industry.

As part of your studies, you'll dive deep into key focus areas within the Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering: applied physics, devices and circuits, systems science, and signals and imaging. Our program is flexible enough for a broad survey of focus areas within the field while still allowing for a survey of areas outside of the department.

Degree Requirements

Students may choose either the thesis or course-only option, which both require completion of 30 credit hours. A minimum of 15 of these units must be selected from the following list of core electrical engineering subjects taught by the Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering.

• Refer to the University Bulletin for the specific requirements for this degree.

The remaining courses in the program may be selected from senior- or graduate-level courses in ESE or elsewhere in the university. Courses outside of ESE must be in technical subjects relevant to electrical engineering and require the department's approval. Undergraduate Laboratory courses may not be used to satisfy this requirement.

• At least 15 units of the 30 total units applied toward the MSEE degree must be in ESE courses which, if cross-listed, have ESE as the home department.
• Regardless of subject or level, all transfer courses are treated as electives and do not count toward the core requirements for the degree.

Electives

Any course numbered 401 or greater in the engineering, physics or mathematics departments, excluding the exceptions listed below, are approved by the department as electives. 

These courses are NOT approved by the department as electives:

• Any general engineering course
  • CSE 501N, CSE 504N, CSE 505N
• Undergraduate lab courses
  • CSE 465M
  • EECE 405, EECE 421, EECE 424, EECE 425
  • ESE 435, ESE 447, ESE 448, ESE 449, ESE 465, ESE 488
  • MEMS 405
• Any undergraduate research, independent study, senior design or capstone course
  • ESE 400, ESE 497, ESE 498, ESE 499

Requests for exceptions to this policy may be submitted to the department chair with the approval of the academic advisor of the student.

Suggested Academic Requirements for Prospective Students

It is recommended that incoming students earn a baccalaureate degree in engineering or another STEM-related degree. In earning that degree, it is recommended that students take the following upper-level courses:

• Calculus Sequence and Differential Equations
• Probability and Statistics
• Engineering Mathematics
• Matrix Algebra
•  Physics
• Introductory Computer Science
• Signals and Systems
• Circuits/ Electrical Networks

• Introduction to Electronic Circuits
• Introduction to Digital Logic and Computer Design
• Electromagnetics

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